Weekly Meal and Jobs Plans

Weather all over the place. Honestly you don't know if you should wear the woolens or put on the summer weight sweaters for the day lately!  It makes meal planning equally as tough.  It's grocery week but the meals planned don't require but two additional ingredients.  I'll be making up another two weeks' worth of menus this week so I can purchase ahead.

I had plans for the day, since I'm alone, but not sure they will come to fruition.  I'm not sure I'm 100%.  I feel well enough to work, just iffy about leaving home.  Some days are like that.  I have just loads of things to choose from to do for fun and work if I do determine home is the best place to be and that is one thing I can honestly say.  I'm never bored, never unhappy to be home.  My problem is that once I start spending time at home, I can find more excuses for just being at home and fewer and fewer for why I should leave!



We were home yesterday which slightly changed my plans for meals.  Not too much mind you.  Everything was right here and ready to be used:

Fried Chicken Fillets, Potato Salad, Black Eye Peas, Spicy Tomato Jam, Boston Cream Cupcake
The fillets were from that second breast I thawed and cooked last week.  I just reheated in the oven.  The potatoes were set aside for hashed browns but we never got round to them.  I heated them and added in the salad stuff to make one of John's favorite salads.  Spicy tomato jam?  I used a can of Rotel tomatoes and added sugar and cooked until thick and sweet.  Granny used to make tomato jam to go on Black Eye Peas and it's awfully good.  My twist in using the spicy tomatoes was a nod to her and a bow to my own generation which loves highly seasoned foods.

Hamburger Pie, Broccoli and Apple Salad, Green Peas
I never made this entree last week and have all ingredients ready, so an easy meal to assemble.

Tostados, Corn, Spicy Cabbage Salad, Honeybell Oranges
I need to purchase corn tortillas and fresh tomatoes. If Avocados are ripe I'll get one of those as well, to add to the tostado.  I will use some of the leftover beans from last week seasoned with taco seasoning.

Speaking of avocado, when I stopped in at the grocery on Friday a girl was sitting in the Starbucks cafe sipping an iced coffee and eating an avocado with a spoon.  She'd topped it off the way one would do a soft-boiled egg and was dipping her spoon into the ripe flesh.  Unusual, but very appealing to me for some reason.

Sausage and Lima Bean Casserole, Wilted Spinach Salad, Corn bread, Apples with Caramel Dip
I haven't made this casserole dish in a long long time, but I do have cans of Fordhook Lima beans on the pantry shelf and John mentioned how much he likes them (and the black eyed peas I cooked the other day. He convicted me in my effort to serve a variety of vegetables and specifically those he likes and we have on hand but seldom eat).  As I recall the beans are seasoned with tomato and onion and a bit of garlic, put in a casserole dish with sausage patties (I'll use turkey sausage) atop and baked until the sausage are cooked through.  This meal is not heavy on meat.  I'll have only two sausage patties each but the boiled egg and the chopped turkey bacon in the hot dressing in the salad will help it feel like a meatier meal, increasing overall satisfaction.

Grocery freezer meal:  Chinese entree, rice, egg rolls, Clementines
I will make the rice at home, but the remainder of the meal will come from grocery store freezer case, my treat to myself.  I can't find decent good Chinese anywhere nearby any longer so I'm resorting to the Aldi entrees in a bag.

Fish and Chips, Coleslaw, Hush Puppies, Lemon wedges and Tartar sauce, Lemon pie wedges
I didn't make the fish sandwiches and do want to use up the fish in the freezer.  We seldom buy or eat fish, as John doesn't particularly care for it, but I think he'll be happy with this meal choice.

Tortellini Beef Bake, Green Salad, Garlic Bread
One of my all time favorite casseroles.  I'll make ahead and possibly save this one for Saturday to reheat when we come in from synagogue.

Week of February 9-14
Home:  Food inventory of back pantry and freezer
              Clean fridge
              Sort out bedside table and desk
              Spend an hour or two in the shed and organize the stuff properly from the last toss and go.  weather stopped this one this week
Blog:  Get new vintage artwork scanned.
            Work on a Shabat Thoughts post.
            Finish three posts that are in progress.
            Frugal Friday post and link to others.

Flea market:  Decide upon next items going to booth and tag them.
                        Find a new design for tags for the next batch.

 Buy or order spool of twine for tag strings decided to use some thin ribbon I have spools and spools of which will look lovely with the new tags I think.

Yard:  Trim roses.
            Try to get rosemary and rose moved from back deck area.
            Pick up branches.

Hobby/Fun:  Work on quilt.
                     A day out to antiques stores I've wanted to visit Weather didn't allow this, so I played with genealogy stuff instead.

For week of February 16-22:

Home:  Grocery shopping.  I want to plan this carefully as I have room in my budget to stock up a little and there are a couple of new recipes I'd like to attempt.  That means a non-routine list so a wee bit more work than usual.

Look over selection and price of shades.  We've decided to upgrade the main rooms window coverings, which is 4 big double windows.  I'll start with shades. 

Shed.  It's supposed to be nice all week long and I doubt it takes more than an hour or so to shift things about and organize it all a little.  I need to look for a new storage bin to stash things in.

Make out my shopping lists for home: new, thrift, hobby store, pantry lists so I can track sales and purchase when I find items.

Yard/Outdoors:  Trim roses.  With the nice weather coming in this week they will be putting on new leaf buds right away.  Since there's to be cooler weather next week now is one of my last opportunities to do this job.

Try to take up rosemary and rose bush at back steps and repot.

Buy paint for front porch floor. 

Booth:  Stop in to dust, add in a few new items, remove some of the oldest pieces, generally refresh.

Personal:  Need to make out a list of items needed right away for wardrobe and watch for sales to make those purchases.
                  Shop clearance rack for new items for next winter's wardrobe.
                  Take up my jeans.  I need to put darts in waist of both pair.
                  Get the last February birthday gift and mail off.